Friday, August 8, 2014

Film Review: The Conspiracy (2012)

"...a handful of familiar elements and genre clichés, but it
still managed to entertain."

Documentary
filmmakers Aaron (Aaron Poole) and Jim (James Gilbert) begin to
document a conspiracy theorist named Terrance. All is well until
Terrance mysteriously vanishes.

The Conspiracy continues to
follow Aaron and Jim as they pick up where Terrance left off, or at
least Aaron does. They begin to piece together Terrance's work and
attempt to find a pattern. They're eventually led to a secret
organization set out to create a new world order, a global community led
by a single government. It's a simple but engaging and interesting plot
that leads to a great but familiar climax, and a satisfying ending.

The
Conspiracy is a mockumentary-style film -- I suppose it may also be
viewed as a found-footage film. Anyway, the mockumentary style works for
the film. I'm not a conspiracy theorist myself, but I definitely enjoy
them. So, right off the bat, The Conspiracy kept me hooked and
interested. It also manages to keep this momentum up to the end. And,
even though I knew where it was headed, I enjoyed the destination. The
Conspiracy is a very interesting and very entertaining film; it's also
very well paced and tightly-packaged with minimal,if any filler -- it was over before I knew it.

The
acting was great all around. Their characters may not be deep or
complex, but Aaron Poole and James Gilbert deliver believable
performances. (the latter sort of looks like Bradley Cooper, if that's
any help to anyone...) The film looks and sounds like a documentary; it
becomes a little more found-footage during the final act, but it
fortunately avoids becoming nauseating. Writer and director Christopher
MacBride treads familiar territory, but still delivers an engaging and
entertaining mockumentary.

Overall, The Conspiracy is a great
film. It has a handful of familiar elements and genre clichés, but it
still managed to entertain. Maybe it was my interest in conspiracies,
maybe it was the forgiving short runtime, or maybe it was the great climax.
Regardless, I really enjoyed the film. If you're open-minded or enjoy a
solid mockumentary, I think you'll enjoy The Conspiracy.